Abstract

To the editor: I was pleased to see the paper by Dr. Loudell Snow on folk medical beliefs (Ann Intern Med 81:82-96, 1974). I had engaged in a limited study of sentiments regarding health, disease, and religious belief in a small, rural, black community in North Carolina. With few exceptions, my findings were identical to those of Dr. Snow. One important exception had to do with the hierarchy of healing practitioners. Writes Dr. Snow, "Because the 'medical' doctor gives medicines he or she is in the same class as the herb doctor, the housewife, or the neighbor who happens to